The present invention provides a flight control method and system, and more particularly a method of and system for minimizing the risk of mid-air collisions between personal air vehicles.
Currently, particularly in areas of the country where the majority of people are unable or unwilling to use public transportation, the automobile is the mode of choice for personal point-to-point transportation. Every day, millions of people in urban areas use automobiles to commute to and from work. Typically, a commute involves driving on surface streets and roads from home to a freeway system, driving on the freeway system to an off-ramp near a destination, and driving on surface streets or roads to the destination.
The current system of roads and freeways is expensive. Roads and freeways are expensive to build and maintain. With the growth of population and the economy, more people use the existing road and freeway systems every year. Roads and freeways quickly become clogged with traffic. Accordingly, federal, state, and local governments are continually planning and building new roads and freeways.
The current system of roads and freeways is also somewhat inefficient. Automobiles are constrained to travel on the roads; thus, they are not able to take the most direct route to a destination. Also, to facilitate safe travel on surface streets, traffic lights and stop signs limit the flow of traffic. Commuting tends to be a slow and frustrating process.
For at least fifty years, people have talked and dreamed about personal air vehicles (PAVs) as an alternative to automobiles for personal transportation. A PAV is a small, relatively low-performance aircraft. A number of configurations have been suggested over the years, such as automobiles with folding or detachable wings, and various vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) configurations. Until recently, the concepts and designs for PAVs have been the province of independent inventors and small businesses. However, recently the government, large industries and educational institutions are investing substantially in the development of PAVs. It is likely that PAVs will become a reality.
In order for PAVs to become a viable alternative to automobiles, it is necessary that the qualifications and rules for operating PAVs be similar to those for automobiles. For example, obtaining a license to operate a PAV should not be significantly more difficult than obtaining a driver's license. Operators of PAVs will be of all ages and skill levels. Most operators will not have the skill and training of qualified airplane pilots. In order to accommodate the abilities of most operators, PAVs will be capable of flying at very low speeds and incapable of flying at high speeds. Most likely, PAV will have VTOL capabilities.
Because of the number of PAVs and the number of potential take-off-and-landing points, there will be no air traffic controllers. Rather, there must be a relatively simple and intuitive set of rules by which individual operators operate their PAVs. Any instrumentation should be simple and not confusing to the average operator.